From April to September last year, there were 4,068 recorded incidents self-harm treated at A&Es in Northern Ireland.

That's an average of 22 people a day being admitted to hospital.

It's a problem that 24-year-old Gary Moore has personal experience of.

Gary Moore said he turned to self-harm as he battled with his mental health after the suicides of both his mother and father in 2011.

He said he found it hard to get support and struggled to help his mother, who was diagnosed as bipolar.

"Her moods were always fluctuating, she had severe depression. I never really knew how sick she was," he told UTV.

He said she struggled for seven years with her condition, before she took her own life.

Then just three weeks after his mother's death, Gary's father also took his own life.

He said his father couldn't come to terms with the loss, "She was his world and he couldn't cope," he explained.

Gary said he has no shame in talking about his own experience as he knows there are others who are suffering in the same way.

"You just feel completely detached from everything, the pressure in your head is awful," he explained.

It is a growing problem, it is a hidden problem, and it is something that we really need to talk about.

Philip McTaggart, PIPS Programmes

But Gary said that a lifeline for him was the support he received from suicide prevention charity, PIPS.

"The only kind of place that relieved me from that pressure was PIPs, and talking to people who genuinely care," he said.

"Because when you're in that mindset, that's all it takes, a kind word, to bring you out of that. But when you are on your own, you need to talk. That helped me."

With the support of PIPS, Gary has been able to write his story down for the first time and says they have helped turn his life around.

Philip McTaggart from PIPS said he has seen an increase in young people coming to the charity who have been self-harming.

He said that they are aiming to extend their reach to schools as well as their current work in youth clubs and community centres, to get young people talk about the issue.

"By talking about it, it gives the young people an opportunity then to talk about their experiences, or someone maybe that they know who is self-harming, and give them some advice, and hopefully get that person the help and support that they need."

Mr McTaggart says the organisation helps people see other ways to channel their emotions.

"For many people in today's world, they're on Facebook, they have their earphones in, texting, but they become isolated," he added.

"A form of self-harm is a way of releasing pressure for them, and then they try to cover it up. It's only by luck that a friend or family member might actually see this.